AUGUST 23, 1948
PIONEERS EXTEND FED LEAD, STARS CONTINUE TO SHINE IN CA
For the second weekend in a row the St Louis Pioneers took two of three games from their closest rival and extended their lead on the second place New York Gothams to 3 games. Unlike a week ago when the venue was Pioneers Field, the St Louis ballclub waltzed into the heart of the Big Apple and took care of buisness against the Gothams over the weekend. Fresh off a two-game sweep of the fading Dynamos in Detroit to begin a 14-game road trek, the Pioneers opened the series in New York by beating the powerful Gothams at their own game in claiming an 11-8 that included homers from Larry Gregory and Homer Mills as well as a rare rough outing from Hal Hackney. A day later the score was much more in line with the Pioneers preferred style of play but it was former Pioneer Buddy Long tossing a 6-hit shutout to beat Hiram Steinberg and the Pioneers 1-0. Just as they did a week ago at home, the Pioneers rebounded from a Saturday loss to the Gothams with a Sunday 1-run victory, this one by a 2-1 score with Homer Mills accounting for all of the St Louis offense with his 6th homer of the season, but second in three days. Dick Long was the mound hero for the winners, outpitching Gothams veteran off-season acquisition Lefty Allen for his 11th victory of the campaign.
The Pioneers and Gothams still have plenty of company in the Fed flag chase with Washington just 4 games back and the Philadelphia Keystones 5.5 off the pace. Even Boston, at 6.5 behind and despite a 15-22 record since the all-star break, is still trying to stay in the chase while the young Detroit Dynamos are still a .500 ballclub and 8 games behind despite sitting in 6th place.
The New York Stars have played just .500 ball since the all-star break and have seen the second place Philadelphia Sailors whittle 3.5 games off their lead since then but the Stars, at least for the moment, remain at the top of the heap in the Continental Association despite dropping 3 of 4 in Montreal over the weekend. The Sailors missed an opportunity to make up more ground as they also lost 3 of their last 4 games while the Chicago Cougars gained some renewed hope with a 3-game sweep of the Brooklyn Eagles to close to within 4 games of the lead. The big news out of the Windy City is this: four consecutive one-run wins for the Cougars agaisnt the Stars and Kings. This comes after losing three straight one-run games against those same two teams.
1949 DRAFT PREVIEW - PART FOUR: MOCK FIRST ROUND
To complete our look at the 1949 draft class here is TWIFB's mock first round. It was inspired heavily by the OSA assessments of the roughly 400 players eligible for selection this season. A year ago our top choice was a shortstop from Coastal State named Tom Miller and he did go number one to Washington in January. This year we double up with another shortstop at the top of our list, although in this case it is a high schooler named John Wells.
Here is what we see based on the scouting of OSA for the 1949 first round to shape up.
Code:
# NAME POS AGE HOMETOWN SCHOOL
1 John Wells SS 17 Philadelphia, PA Phil. Northeast Catholic HS
2 Tom Perkins SS 21 Troy, TN. Lane State
3 Rick Masters RF 17 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Prospect Heights HS
4 Don Berry LF 20 Ahoskie, NC Grange College
5 Jim Bob Daniels 3B 20 Atlanta, GA Alabama Gulf Coast
6 Ray Patterson P 17 South Bend, IN South Bend HS
7 Buddy Byrd 2B 17 New York, NY Brooklyn Lane HS
8 Dallas Berry CF 17 Wellsville, MO Wellsville HS
9 Andy Green 1B 20 Odessa, MO Maryland State
10 Ed Bloom 3B 20 Wichita, KS American Atlantic Univ.
11 Wayne Contrill 1B 17 Clevland, OH Akron(OH) St Mary HS
12 Vern Osbrone P 17 St Louis, MO Montgomery City (MO) HS
13 George Walker 2B 17 Greensboro, NC Wadesboro (NC) HS
14 Rube Simpson 2B 18 Houston, TX Humble (TX) HS
15 Ike Shafer 1B 18 Evansville, IN Louisville(KY) Southern HS
16 Eddie Dickey CF 17 Carlisle, PA Baltimore (MD) Lutheran HS
- Good news for St Louis fans. Reigning Allen Award winner Danny Hern is healthy and ready to return to the Pioneers rotation after being sidelined since mid-June. Hern won 25 games a year ago to be a key reason for the Pioneers surprising pennant and WCS wins. This year he was 6-6 with a 3.79 era at the time of his injury.
- Toronto's Fred McCormick is now 38 years old but won another player of the week award. It was the 19th of his career.
- Yes, it is true the Pittsburgh Miners are the hottest team in the Fed at the momemnt as they had a 7-game winning streak come to an end in the second game of yesterday's doubleheader with Philadelphia. Big week for the Miners ahead with visits from both the Gothams and St Louis to Fitzpatrick Park.
RICH GET RICHER, PACKERS INK DUCHARME
The NAHC's most powerful offense just added another key weapon with news that the Chicago Packers had agreed to a contract with 24-year-old left winger Max Ducharme. It returns Ducharme full circle to the NAHC club that originally drafted him as he was Chicago's 4th round choice in the 1943 draft but was dealt to Montreal four months later in the deal that brought combative defenseman Ted Stevens to the Windy City. While Stevens wore out his welcome in Chicago and has moved on to minor league Syracuse for the upcoming season, Ducharme took a couple of seasons to find his footing in Montreal but had a breakout year last season with 14 goals and 40 points in 59 games.
In a surprise move the Valiants released him along with a number of other players in a purge following a second straight season of missing the playoffs. There was plenty of interest around the league for the native of Drummondville, QC., but he elected to sign with the Packers and will add to arguably the most talented group of forwards in the league.
*** Where Will Ducharme Fit in Packers Lineup? ***
Many observers are left wondering what possessed Ducharme to sign with Chicago when he had his pick of clubs to join. Clearly the allure of joining the Challenge Cup favourites was likely the reason but one has to wonder if there will be enough ice time to go around at Lakeside Auditorium for the 24-year-old.
Ducharme aides his own cause by being flexible enough to comfortably fit into any of the three forward positions and there are always injuries to contend with over a long season but it is pretty clear the Packers do not have many openings up front. The first line seems certain to once again consist of three-time reigning league MVP Tommy Burns along with his brother Wes and Marty Mahoney. Point a game center iceman Jarrett McGlynn seems assured of a spot on the second line likely between Jeremy MacLean and Dave Rankin which means Ducharme ends up in a heavy battle with the likes of Ed Delarue, Moose Vezina, Larry Seguin, Derek Gubb and young Stanley Royce for whatever ice time might remain.
One thing is certain: There will not be a shortage of offensive talent with the Packers in the upcoming season.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
NAHC DRAFT COMPLETED
The 1948 North American Hockey Conferderation rookie draft was held over the weekend with the Detroit Motors owning the first choice which they used as expected on 19-year-old winger Lou Barber. The Tillsonberg, Ont., native spent part of last season with the Toledo Tigers of the HAA, notching 4 goals and 15 points. Next up was the Montreal Valiants, who went for blueline help with the selection of London, Ont., native Byron Redmond second overall. If there was a surprise in the opening round it was the fact that the Toronto Dukes opted to draft a goaltender with their first round choice. The Dukes went with Charlie Dell, a British Columbia native who spent last season as Barber's teammate with the Toledo Tigers. Dell became the first goalie selected in the opening round since the Boston Bees drafted Oren James with the final pick of round one in the 1943 draft.
JUNIOR LOOP ADDED
Going forward NAHC clubs will no longer be looking to draft players from the minor leagues as a working agreement has been made with a new junior loop that will be tasked with developing players for the pros. The league is the Candian Amateur Hockey Association, a 12-team league that will recruit and draw the top talent from Canada and the northern United States and have them compete in an NAHC type schedule. The league, set to begin play in October, will have two divisions:
CAHA EASTERN DIVISION
Halifax Mariners
Hull Hawks
Saint John Saints
Sherbrooke Industrials
Trois-Rivieres Trappers
Verdun Argonauts
CAHA WESTERN DIVISION
Brantford Blue Legs
Kingston Cadets
Kitchener Roosters
London Lions
St Thomas Pachyderms
Windsor Dominions
CFC GRID MAGNATES LOOK FOR LONGER SLATE
There is talk in the Continental Conference that some magnates want to go to a schedule that sees teams regularly play twice a week, as opposed to the typical one game a week slate. Dee Rose, the owner of the Los Angeles Lobos, is a driving force for the change noting that "Football is coming to a twice-a-week schedule anyway. We may as well pioneer it. We have pioneered a new major league, and a coast-to-coast league. So why stop there.
The scuttlebutt is the CFC magnates would like to increase revenue by adopting a 28-game schedule for next season at the CFC's first winter meeting in December. CFC President Ben Montgomery appears to be taking a shine to the idea as well, noting it is "only fair to the thousands of fans who would like to see our teams and to the owners who are being whipsawed financially under the present setup."
*** Russians and US Agree on Something ***
Finally some common ground for the Russians and Americans, but only when it comes to sports. There is a heavy push from some of the European nations lobbying for a major change in international basketball rules, most spectacular of which would be limiting the ceiling on players. They maintain - and with some justification_ that a nation like the United States has too much of an advantage because of height.
During the recent Olympic games one authority suggested, presumably with a straight face, that a ceiling of 6 feet 4 3/4 inches be established. Unexplained was the preference for this height, instead of some nice round figure like 6 feet 4 inches, or 6 feet 5 inches, but at any rate the movement was started and the Americans promptly took a dim view of the whole business. The Russians are also contributing a dim view of their own, saying that they intend to participate in the sport in the '52 games "if invited" and that they are fully against a ban on tall players.
*** To Pros a 6 Foot, 4 Incher Is 'Little' ***
Daniel Carter, 4-time ABC coach of the year and bench boss of the Washington Statesmen explains "In pro basketball today you absolutely need two tall men. When I say tall men I don't mean those fellows who are 6 feet 2 inches or 6 feet 4 inches. They're all right, but in modern basketball they're little men. You can carry three, four, maybe five of this size and possibly even shorter. But you've got to have those big boys...those 6 foot 7 or 8 inch players. They control the ball for you. They make that pivot work. And they guard the other team's big guys."
"It's useless to put a 6-footer against a man who stands 6 feet 7 inches. He can't stop the big fellow. All he'll do is foul out. Worst part of it is that in building a team you should begin with the big fellows. Circumstances force me to work the other way. The advantage to starting with big guys is that you know how many small men you can carry. Some of the greatest players I've ever seen are only 5 feet 10 inches. But they're only great when you can put them into a game against men their size. If the other team is using a big guy you've got to keep your 5 feet 10 or 11 inches of greatness on the bench."
UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS- Aug 28- Baltimore: former WW champ Harold Stephens (21-4-2) vs Ben "Baby Face" Bishop (28-5-1)
- Aug 28- Philadelphia: WW Wayne Dunn (31-9) vs Dale Roy (30-6)
- Aug 29- Atlantic City: Rising WW Danny Rutledge (15-0) vs John Jackson (16-8-1)
- Sept 4- Lakeside Arena, Chicago: World Welterweight Champion Mac Erickson (17-0) defends his title against John Gregory (19-4-1)
- Sept 10- Bigsby Garden, New York: HW Mark Fountain (23-5-1) vs Tommy Cline (13-1)
- Sept 18- St Louis: former WW champ Mark Westlake (24-3-1) vs Ira Mitchell (20-2)
- Sept 24- National Auditorium, Washington DC: WW Rudy Perry (26-4-1) vs Billy Boyd (26-9-2)
- Oct 1- Montreal, Quebec: World Middleweight champion Edouard Desmarais (42-1) defends his title against Canadian Adrian Petrie (17-1-1)
- Oct 22- London, Eng: World Heavyweight champion Hector Sawyer (58-3-1) defends his title against Grant Knowles (31-4-1)
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 8/22/1948
- Berlin's liberal newspaper says the Russians have a list of hundreds of thousands of anti-Communists on whom revenge would be taken if the Western Allies leave the city.
- The Russian blockade of Berlin appears to be backfiring as increased ecoonomic troubles are being reported in the Russian zone of Germany.
- The four-power talks in Moscow about Berlin and Germany came to an end but no published agreements were reached. More discussions are expected at a future date.
- The Chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities says a previously undisclosed spy ring involving US government officials will be brought into "full focus" when the committee resumes hearings September 7.
- President Truman and Republican leaders are engaged in another slugging match over his forecast of a $1.5 billion dollar budget deficit. They say Truman is juggling the figures for political effect in advance of the fall election.
- The United Nations Palestine mediator warned that Security Council that the situation in Jerusalem is "gradually getting out of hand." He said it is doubtful whether the Holy City can be demilitarized in the near future.
- Air Force scientists are working on a supersonic guided missle capable of carrying an atomic warhead 5,000 miles.